On July 5, I ran the Victoria
Falls Marathon in Zimbabwe. This race
has been on my bucket list for years.
I do a lot of solo
travel, but sometimes I prefer to be with a group. For this trip I was traveling with
Coddiwomple Travel. Besides the
marathon, their itinerary included visits to two national parks and a sunset
cruise on the Zambezi River. I also
booked a guided tour of the falls from both sides of the river.
Tuesday, June 30
Malaria is endemic in
Zimbabwe, so I needed to start taking anti-malaria medication two days before I
arrived. That happened to be the same
day I left home. Malaria risk at this
time of year is relatively low, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
I left Tuesday afternoon for
Johannesburg, South Africa, with a layover in Atlanta. I’ve been on the Atlanta to Johannesburg
flight before. It’s a 15-hour flight.
Wednesday, July 1
With the time change, it
was already 7 PM when I arrived in Johannesburg. I had a 15-hour layover before my flight to
Victoria Falls, so I checked into an airport hotel for the night.
I didn’t get any sleep on
my flight, so I was pretty tired. I went
to bed within an hour of getting to the hotel, but it took me several hours to
get to sleep. I only slept for an hour
or two before I needed to get up again.
Thursday, July 2
After breakfast, I had to
hurry back to the airport for my flight to Victoria Falls. Because I left the terminal, I had to allow
time for going through security again.
I arrived in Victoria
Falls around noon. On arrival, I had to
pay for a visa for entry into Zimbabwe.
My itinerary included day trips into Zambia and Botswana, so I had to
get a KAZA visa. This type of visa
allows multiple border crossings between Zimbabwe and Zambia. It also allows for day trips into Botswana.
Coddiwomple Travel
provided transportation to our hotel. I
was surprised how far away the airport was.
It took about 30 minutes to get into town. For the next five nights, I stayed at Ilala
Lodge Hotel in Victoria Falls.
When I got to the hotel,
I was met by the tour guide from Coddiwomple.
I was the first person in our group to arrive. The others came in on a later flight.
I had a surprisingly
filling sandwich on my flight, so I wasn’t hungry for lunch. I did a workout at the hotel, explored some
local shops, and then I had an early dinner.
I have a knack for
finding good pizza in any city. I found
a place a few blocks from the hotel called The Three Monkeys. They had a variety of different brick oven
pizzas. Most of them were fairly
traditional, but they had one with bacon and bananas. I’ve never had banana slices on a pizza
before, so I had to try it. I wasn’t
disappointed.
Ilala Lodge was right
next to Victoria Falls National Park, and animals from the park would sometimes
wander onto the property. In the
afternoon, I saw two warthogs from my balcony.
At dusk, I saw two elephants from a walkway behind the pool area.
Later, I met the other
members of my tour group at a reception by the hotel pool. We were a small group, but there were enough
appetizers to feed a much larger group.
The appetizers ended being our dinner.
I had an easy time
getting to sleep that night, but I still wasn’t able to sleep through the
night. Adjusting to this time zone was
taking longer than usual.
Friday, July 3
Friday was a free day to
explore Victoria Falls on our own. I
booked a guided tour of falls. This tour took me through two national parks, one in Zimbabwe and one in Zambia.
First, I saw the falls
from the Zimbabwe side of the river. Here’s a
sampling of the photos I took.
To get to the other side,
I had to go through border crossing stations on both sides of the bridge. Each side had long lines.
Once across, I was able
to view the falls from the Zambia side of the river. This side had different views.
Near the falls, there’s a
lot of spray, and in a few places, it felt like it was raining. I was wearing a rain poncho, but my pants got
wet below the knees, and my sleeves got wet below the elbows.
When I got back to the
hotel, my race packet had been delivered to my room. Besides my race bib and T-shirt, there was a
visor, a pair socks, a fanny pack, a towel, and a buff.
I had lunch at a
smokehouse/brewery near the hotel. Then
I walked to where the race starts and finishes.
I spent the rest of the afternoon
relaxing at the hotel. I met a runner
from South Africa who runs the Comrades Marathon every year. While we were talking, a large group of
elephants came onto the property. They
were behind the trees, so I couldn’t get an exact count, but I saw at least
five adults and about as many baby elephants.
Later, I saw more elephants, and I finally got a clear picture.
For dinner, I went back
to The Three Monkeys, so I could try one of their other pizzas.
Saturday, July 4
On Saturday, we had a
game drive in Zambezi National Park. We
had to leave early, so the hotel gave us grab-and-go breakfasts. When we got to the park, we had to drive a
long way before we saw any animals. The
first giraffes we saw were too far away to get a good photo.
As we continued through
the park, we started to see more animals, and we got closer to them. We saw zebras, giraffes, warthogs, cape
buffalo, and greater kudu. We also saw a
variety of birds, including pelicans.
When we got back to the
hotel, I did a workout. Then I relaxed
until our next outing.
In the afternoon, we went
into Zambia to have high tea at the Royal Livingstone Victoria Falls Hotel. This is the nicest hotel on the Zambia side
of the river. It’s right on the river,
and there are zebras, giraffes, and other wildlife right on the property.
While we were there, we
discovered that there’s a marathon next weekend in Livingstone, Zambia called
the Zambezi Waterfront Marathon. Had I
known that before, I would’ve planned a longer trip, so I could run marathons
in both Zimbabwe and Zambia. At this
point, it was too late to change my plans.
After we got back from
Zambia, we had a pre-race pasta dinner at the hotel, even though we were all
still full from all the food we ate at high tea. The food was served family-style. It was more food than we could eat, so we all
got to-go boxes. The others took the
leftover pasta and meat. I took the
leftover desserts, which gave me food for my pre-race breakfast and a post-race
snack.
Sunday, July 5
Sunday was race day. Our tour package included bus transportation to
the start, which was at Baobab Primary School.
The race started at 6:15 AM, but I had to catch the bus at 5:20. I considered just walking, since the start
was only about a kilometer away. I took
the bus on the recommendation of the hotel staff. It’s still dark at that hour, and we were
right next to a national park with various wild animals.
I was the only one
running the marathon who was picked up at this hotel. They had a later pickup time for people
running the half marathon. After I was
picked up, the bus stopped at one other hotel before driving to the
school. We got dropped off about 30
minutes before the marathon started.
The temperature in the
morning was in the 40s. I knew it would
get much warmer later, but I tend to dress for the temperature at the
start. I wore tights and a T-shirt, but
I also wore a Tyvek jacket while I was waiting for the race to start.
They didn’t have portable
toilets in the start area, but we could use the bathrooms in the school
buildings. In the boys’ bathroom, none
of the stalls had toilet paper. There wasn’t
even a place for toilet paper.
Fortunately, I only needed to pee.
I knew we would be
running near the falls in the early miles.
I didn’t know if I would get wet from the spray coming from the falls,
so I kept my jacket on as I started running.
I unzipped it in front, so my race bib would be visible.
When we started, it was
still dark. The only light was from
street lamps. As we left the school
grounds, we were initially running on grass and dirt, so I started hesitantly
and watched my footing carefully. Once
we turned onto city streets, I was more confident in my footing.
After about one
kilometer, I could see the glow of the sunrise.
I could also see the mist rising from the falls.
The aid stations had
water in cylindrical plastic bags. To
drink, you needed to tear a hole in the bag with your teeth and then squeeze
the water out. I’ve seen the same thing at
races in central America and the Caribbean.
Tap water in Zimbabwe isn’t generally safe to drink. Seeing that it was in sealed bags gave me
confidence that it was similar in quality to bottled water.
We ran past the
immigration station on the Zimbabwe side of the river, and then we started
running toward the bridge. Before I
reached the bridge, I noticed the road was wet.
As I got onto the bridge, I could feel a little bit of spray from the
falls. It felt like light drizzle. That’s why I kept my jacket on.
There are immigration
offices on each side of the river, but they’re both a distance away from the
river, because they need to be located where there’s enough room for cars to
park. The actual border is the Zambezi River,
so as soon as we crossed the bridge, we were in Zambia.
Most of the course was
relatively flat, but there were some uphill and downhill sections. One of the uphill sections was right after
crossing the bridge. I had to slow down
a little, but I didn’t have to walk.
That was encouraging. In my last
several races, I had to walk almost every hill.
We ran almost to the gate
by the Zambia immigration station. Then
we turned around and crossed the bridge again.
When we crossed the
bridge on Saturday, you could see the falls.
Sunday morning, there was too much mist.
After crossing the bridge
for a second time, we didn’t take the same road back into town. Instead, we turned onto a road that took us
closer to the river.
Now that I was no longer
near the falls, I took off my jacket and tied it around my waist. I had already taken off my gloves.
About four miles into the
race, I started to notice some discomfort from a tight Achilles tendon. It was encouraging that I didn’t notice it
before. Usually, I feel it from the
first mile. I probably helped that I had
a few days off from running before the race.
The aid stations were
closer together than I expected. After
drinking water at the first two, I decided to skip every other aid station, so
I wouldn’t overhydrate.
The first few aid
stations only had water, but I eventually reached aid stations that also had
Coke. The first time I saw Coke, it was
at an aid station that I was planning to skip.
Whenever I saw it at an aid station where I was drinking, I opted for
Coke instead of water.
Just past the 9K sign, I
saw a 26K sign. At that point, I knew we
would be running along this road again later in the race. It eventually became clear that the marathon
was two loops, but I suspected there would be differences between the two
loops.
At 12K, I saw baboons
running across the road. I had already
seen baboons in two of the national parks, but apparently, they’re all over the
place.
Some aid stations also
had fruit. I ate a banana at one, but I
mostly just drank water and Coke.
At 14K, I was one third
done, so I checked my time. I was almost
on pace to finish in 4:30. I expected to
slow down as it got hotter, but I was pretty confident that I would break five
hours. That was my only goal, other than
finishing.
At 15K, I reached a hill
that was steep enough that some of the runners ahead of me were walking
it. That seemed prudent, so I also
walked most of this hill. I had been
running well, but I didn’t want to wear myself out by working too hard on a
hill.
At the top of that hill,
I turned onto a road that was paved with bricks. The footing was really uneven here. It felt like cobblestones. I found running this section to be tiring, in
addition to being uncomfortable.
I eventually realized,
that this section was still slightly uphill, which is one reason it was
tiring. The uneven footing also made it
tiring.
After that section, there
was another hill where I needed to take a walking break. After that, it got easier.
Up until now, I had been
averaging about 10:30 per mile. The mile
with the hills and the next mile were both slower than 11 minutes.
There was a half marathon
that started later than the marathon. I
had seen some half marathon runners go by, but only the fastest ones. Shortly past 17K, I reached a junction where
the two courses diverged. Runners doing
the half marathon turned left. Those of
us doing the marathon kept going straight to do an extra out-and-back section. As a result, our first lap was longer.
After two slower miles, I
was able to bring my pace back down to where it was before. Then I reached the halfway point. I was no longer on pace for 4:30, but I was
easily on pace to break five hours by a wide margin. The question was whether I would come apart
in the second half. It was warming up
quickly, and the sun was getting higher in the sky.
Now that it was warming
up, I started drinking at every aid station.
I drank Coke when I saw it.
Otherwise, I drank water.
I finished the
out-and-back section and came back to the junction where the half marathon
turned. Now, we were on the same route
again. I had somewhere between 3K and 4K
to go to finish the first lap.
At 24K, I saw some
portable toilets, so I stopped. I knew I
would need to pee at some point, and I was also feeling some pressure building
in my colon. I was dismayed to see that
the portable toilets also didn’t have toilet paper. Apparently local runners know to bring their
own. I didn’t have the foresight to do
that, so I resigned myself to holding it in until after the race. That made the rest of the race somewhat
uncomfortable.
The first lap was roughly
25K. Then the half marathon runners
turned to head back to the school, while those of us doing the marathon
continued straight to begin our second lap.
I knew at this point that
the second lap would only be 17K. The
difference is that we took a shorter route through town, and we didn’t run out
to the bridge again.
Traffic on the bridge had
been closed for the race. That meant
closing the only nearby border crossing.
I’m sure they wanted to re-open the border as soon as possible, which is
why we didn’t run across the bridge again.
After running through
town for another kilometer, I turned back onto a road that I had run
before. I once again saw the 9K sign,
followed by the 26K sign. From here on,
I was running on roads that I had run before.
I knew what to expect now. There
was one tough section with steeper hills and bricks that felt like
cobblestones. Other than that, nothing
would be too tough,
I wanted to do another
time check at 28K. I never noticed the
28K sign, but all my recent mile splits were under 11 minutes. That made me pretty confident that I was
staying on pace for a time under five hours.
At about 29K, I caught up
to the back of pack of the half marathon.
Everyone at the back was walking.
The half marathon walkers greater outnumbered the marathon runners. I had to scan the road ahead to spot the
marathon runners, so I could try to keep up with the runners ahead of me.
At 32K, I reached the
first of the two hills where I had taken walking breaks before. I knew that was followed by the
brick/cobblestone section. Running on
that surface was uncomfortable, so I wanted to walk it this time. I contemplated running the hill.
When I saw other runners
ahead of me starting to walk up the hill, I had second thoughts. Then I noticed for the first time how hot and
sweaty I was getting. The sun was
intense now. That persuaded me to walk
the hill again.
Because I walked up the
hill, I forced myself to run on the uncomfortable brick section. This time, I was much more conscious that it
was slightly uphill.
When I finished that
section, I reached the second hill that I had previously walked. It wasn’t actually any steeper than the brick
section. I needed to walk most of it,
because I was already tired from the previous section.
I knew that mile would be
my slowest of the race. The first time,
my pace slowed to almost 12 minutes. I
expected to be slower than 12 minutes this time, but I was a bit dismayed to be
slower than 13 minutes. The good news is
that I knew it would be easier the rest of the way.
I once again reached the
junction where the half marathon turned left and the marathon went
straight. We had about 8K to go. They had slightly more than 3K to go. I was jealous.
I was determined to bring
my pace back down, but I had to focus on one section of the course at a
time. First, I needed to reach the
turnaround of this out-and-back section.
That was a little over two kilometers.
When I reached the turn,
I focused on keeping up my pace until I got back to the same junction. That was also just over two kilometers.
I got back to that
junction, turned right, drank Coke at an aid station, and then forced myself to
run up a short hill. A short time later,
my watch gave me a split for 24 miles. I
knew I had more than 2.2 miles to go.
The 39K mark would be two miles to go, and that was nowhere in
sight. I had to ignore my watch and just
look for the kilometer markers.
When I reached the 39K
mark, I should have done a time check, but I didn’t think of it. I pressed on.
I eventually reached the
40K sign, followed by the 19K sign for the half marathon. I had 2100 meters to go. If I could run it in 11 minutes, I could
break 4:40. It was mostly downhill, but
the remaining distance was too far to have any realistic chance of running it
in 11 minutes. I was going to finish
with a time in the low 4:40s.
I enjoyed the nice long
downhill section. I never saw the 41K
sign, but I knew I was getting close when I could see tents that were set up in
the finish area. As the crow flies it
was close, but we had to take a circuitous route.
We turned left and follow
the road alongside the school until we reached the entrance to the school
grounds. After running up a small hill,
I turned onto the dirt and grass section.
I had to make a big curve that was sort of like running halfway around a
track. Then the finish line came into
sight.
I ran under the same arch
that had been the starting line. I
thought that was the finish line, but I hesitated for a few seconds before
stopping my watch. Then I walked the rest
of the way through the finisher chute.
By my watch, I finished
in 4:42:06, but I wanted to see what my official time was. I continued through the chute and got my
finisher medal. Another volunteer handed
me a bottle of water. I was hot and
thirsty, but I didn’t want to drink any more water until I got back to the
hotel and made a bathroom stop. I gave
the water bottle back.
After finishing, I saw a
large display screen that showed the times of recent finishers. It showed my time as 4:42:29. I didn’t know if that was gun time or net
time, but that’s the same time I saw later when I looked up my result online. Either way, I was pretty happy with that
time. It was my fastest time in two
months.
I could have taken a
shuttle back to the hotel, but they only ran once per hour. It was faster to walk.
I was wearing a T-shirt
from the Comrades Marathon, and throughout the race, I often got shoutouts from
other runners who noticed it. We were
close to South Africa, so there were a lot of other runners who have either run
Comrades or are familiar with the race.
While I was walking back to the hotel, I also heard someone in town say,
“Comrades Marathon. Much respect.”
When I got to the hotel,
I didn’t wait until I got back to my room.
I stopped at the closest bathroom, which was inside the lobby.
After taking a shower and
sitting for a while, my Achilles tendon got much tighter. For the rest of the day, walking was
difficult.
Later in the day, we had
a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River.
While we were waiting for the sun to set, we occasionally saw hippos
popping out of the water. We also saw
crocodiles on a nearby island.
We stayed until the sun
set. Then we went back and had a nice
dinner. We were sitting at the same
table as some runners from South Africa, and we got along well.
By the time we got back
to the hotel, it was late, so I went to bed as quickly as I could.
Monday, July 6
On Sunday, we visited
another national park. This time, it was
Chobe National Park in Botswana. We left
right after breakfast. First, we had to
drive to Botswana. We got through
passport control on the Zimbabwe side fairly quickly, but it took more than two
hours to get through the line on the Botswana side. We heard later that they had a power outage
that morning. I assume a long line built
up while they were unable to process anyone.
When we arrived at the
national park, we began our safari. The
first part was a boat ride on the Chobe River.
I was surprised how much wildlife we could see from the water. We saw impalas, cape buffalo, hippos,
giraffes, and elephants.
After a lunch break, we
continued our safari on land. There, we
saw kudu, impalas, giraffes, cape buffalo, hippos, elephants, and a lion.
On the way back, border
control went quicker. We got back to our
hotel around 7 PM. We hadn’t had dinner
yet, so it turned into a late night.
Tuesday, July 7
Tuesday was the only day
that I didn’t need to get up early, but I woke up at 4:30 and couldn’t get back
to sleep. On the bright side, it gave me
plenty of time to do a workout and pack for the journey home.
Coddiwomple arranged
transport to the airport for my afternoon flight to Johannesburg. My first flight was about 30 minutes late,
but that wasn’t a big deal. I had a
6-hour layover in Johannesburg before the long flight back to Atlanta.
I had some drama when I
got off the plane in Johannesburg. I was
almost to passport control when I realized I had forgotten to take my carry-on
bag out of the overhead bin. I turned
around and ran back down the long hallway as fast as I could.
Along the way, I passed a
South African Airlink employee who was pushing a wheelchair. I told him I forgot my bag, but he already
knew. He told me the flight crew had it
and they were bringing it off the plane for me.
When I got back to the jet bridge, they were waiting for me.
On my way back, another
Airlink employee offered to give me a lounge pass. I thanked him, but I already had access to
the lounge.
After passport control, I
stopped to open the Delta app to see where the lounge was located. The app gave me confusing directions. I saw two more Airlink employees and asked
them how to get to the lounge. They said
they would take me there, and one of them carried my bag. I still had to go through security, but they
escorted me to the head of the line.
Then they brought me to the lounge.
I can’t express enough how impressed I am with this airline’s customer
service.
I still have two more flights. Hopefully, I won’t have any more drama..
